Steve and the Unicorn
by LadyOscar23
Summary: When Steve and Danny learn a crucial fact about a string of murders in Hawaii, they must try to solve the case before there are more victims. At the same time, after having certain secrets revealed to each other, they must confront the consequences to their personal and professional relationship. A world with unicorns can be a complicated place! Slash, and AU.
1. The Shape of Things to Come

**Author's Note:** I have no real excuse for this. It started nearly a year ago as a bit I wrote in response to a joking conversation, and then became a full-blown story after a plot bunny ran away with me. I've been working on it intermittently in an extremely self-indulgent way, and now that I've finally gotten "Three Perfectly Awful Days" posted, I'm throwing it out there in case anyone else would like to read it. (If for some reason anyone is wondering, don't worry, I'm also working on getting Part 5 of The Telephone Rang ready!)_  
_

This story is dedicated to Senzarit, whose true friendship through all kinds of weather means more to me than I can possibly express. I'd say you have kept me sane, but after reading this story, people might doubt that! So, I'll just say that you've kept me writing. (Everyone can decide for themselves whether or not they think that's a good thing.) :-P

I'd also like to mention that I was overjoyed to discover a few months ago that there is a Reboot Five-0 unicorn story! If you like the idea of unicorns and Five-O, please check out "They Will Stare Unbelieving" by Dreamwind1.

* * *

_So, this is it,_ Steve McGarrett thought, staring down the barrel of Loren's gun. The meeting had been a ruse, designed to lure the head of Five-O out to this remote forest clearing where he could be disposed of. In these final moments he was somewhat startled to realize that the face that flashed across his mind's eye was that of his second-in-command. _Goodbye, Danno,_ he thought, as Loren's finger squeezed the trigger.

Suddenly, everything stopped making sense. A golden brown shape exploded from the underbrush, slamming into McGarrett's would-be killer, sending his gun flying. Steve had simultaneously hurled himself backwards out of the line of fire, and he watched from a prone position as Loren, knocked sprawling, cried out in pain, his hand clapped to his shoulder, red blood flowing over his fingers. Standing over him was, most improbably, a chestnut horse.

McGarrett's knowledge of equine matters had subconsciously taken over, assessing the animal. _Reddish chestnut, build of a quarter horse, but something else in there...a curly mane and tail...maybe some Friesian? Two white socks on the hind feet,_ _and, unusual for a chestnut, blue eyes, _he thought irrelevantly. The horse snorted at the fallen thug, then turned to Steve.

And wasn't a horse.

McGarrett blinked hard, then reached a hand up to rub his eyes. When he lowered it again, the evidence was still in front of him, and, in fact, closer, as the creature approached him, whickering softly. It began gently nuzzling him with its..._his_, Steve corrected himself, as he noted the animal's anatomy...soft muzzle, for all the world as though to check him for injuries. He couldn't help flinching slightly as the creature gently prodded his knee, since that brought the...oddness...of it a bit too close for comfort.

The _horn._

The animal looked like a normal handsome chestnut stallion. With a golden-sheened spiraling eighteen-inch horn rising from the center of its forehead.

All this had happened so quickly that Steve was still lying on his back on the grass, propped up on his elbows, gazing in dumbfounded amazement at his rescuer. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, carefully avoiding the horn, and brushed himself off.

"I'm fine," he said, a bit self-consciously, but unable to shake the feeling that the...the _horse-thing_...his mind shied away from the other word...was worried about him.

The animal in question gave a snort, turned his head toward Loren, who looked frankly terrified, still clutching his bleeding shoulder, and crashed off into the underbrush again.

McGarrett crawled over to where Loren lay wide-eyed and apparently too stunned for speech. "Let me see," he ordered, moving the man's hand aside. There was a ragged hole through shirt and shoulder, surely created by the..._thing's..._horn. Steve took out his handkerchief and put it over the wound, then replaced Loren's hand, saying, "Keep pressure on it. I called for backup on my way...they should get here any minute."

As if on cue, Danny Williams came crashing through the same underbrush the chestnut creature had so recently emerged from. He had clearly made the fastest time he could, and was gasping for breath, his clothing disheveled and bits of plants and debris in his curly hair, his gun drawn.

"Steve!" he called. "I got your radio message. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, Danno," the head of Five-O assured him. _I don't know why, but I am..._

* * *

A few hours later McGarrett was sitting behind his desk staring unseeingly at a report when Danny came into the office with a keeper from the Honolulu Zoo, a dark-haired woman dressed in a uniform of polo shirt, khaki shorts, and boots, with a book tucked under one arm.

"Hi. I'm Diane," she said, crossing the office to shake hands with Steve as Danny came to sit perched in his favorite place on the corner of Steve's desk. "I hear you had an encounter with some sort of large, horned animal in the forest near Hau'ula?"

"Yes. I'm not...not quite sure what it was," McGarrett told her, looking down at his desk.

Diane opened the book she carried to a marked place, reaching across the desk to set it in front of Steve. "From the description Mr. Williams gave me, it sounds like it could have been one of the larger antelopes. Look through this chapter and tell me if anything seems familiar. Of course, I can assure you we're not missing anything of the sort from the Zoo."

Steve flipped through the book, trying to find something that at least looked plausibly like the...horse-thing. "Hm...the horn...that is, the _horns,_" he quickly corrected himself, "were something like this," he said, pointing to a picture of a chamois. "But the animal was larger."

"Often people imagine animals are larger than they really are, when they see them in a threatening situation," Diane suggested.

"I suppose it's possible," McGarrett told her. "I could swear it was more the size of a...a cow, though." He continued to flip through the pages. "Maybe this?" He turned the book to show her.

"The roan antelope? They are large and can be aggressive if they feel threatened. Native to Africa. We don't have any at the Zoo, and I can't imagine keeping one as a pet, but people do strange things. Possibly someone had some idea of setting up a game ranch for hunting," she speculated. "You can have Fish and Wildlife contact us if there are any more sightings."

"Thank you for your help," McGarrett told her, ushering her out of the office before returning to stand in front of the desk, facing his second-in-command. "Danno..." he began, then stopped. _What am I going to ask him, 'Danno, do you believe in unicorns?'_

He started again. "Danno, I want you to stay in touch with Fish and Wildlife. This thing, whatever it is, is clearly dangerous. But it...it might be an endangered species, so if possible I want them to bring it in unharmed." _Also, it saved my life today,_ he thought.

"Will do, Steve," Danny said. "And...I'm sorry I couldn't get to you sooner back there."

"You got there as quickly as you could," his boss told him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. _Something else had my back this morning..._


	2. An Unusual Courtroom

One night a week after Steve's encounter in the forest clearing Danny woke to the knowledge that something was wrong. The room was dark, but he could feel that he was not alone.

"Get the lights," a male voice ordered.

Blinking in the sudden brightness, Danny saw six tall figures in his bedroom, five arrayed around the bed glowering down at him with folded arms, and one by the light switch. _Well, I knew something like this was coming as soon as I saw that interview Loren gave the Star Advertiser,_ he thought.

"Get up and come with us," the one at the lamp ordered curtly.

_I might as well face the music_. _Even if I could get away now, sooner or later they'd catch up to me,_ Danny thought as he was marched from his building and seated in the back of a black car between two guards.

After a period of driving on city streets, they made their way up a winding road in poor condition, rising in elevation as the forest on either side grew denser, a smell of damp earth and vegetation in the air. When the car stopped, Danny was marched into the forest and escorted along a narrow, muddy trail. It wound through an overgrown tangle of trees and climbing plants, fallen leaves damp and slippery under his bare feet, the night a little chilly for pyjamas. After walking a distance he found hard to judge, they reached a clearing, open to the starry night sky and lit by flickering torches.

The clearing was filled with activity. Some individuals were bustling around setting out an array of folding tables and chairs, while others conferred in small groups. A few were unclothed, but many wore loose belted robes or simple dresses.

The exceptions to the general dress code were the two individuals who walked up to Five-O's second-in-command and his escort. They were wearing sharply tailored suits and would have looked much more natural in a downtown office building.

"Nathaniel," said the tall silvery-blonde, extending a hand to Danny. "And this is my partner, Thomas," he added, nodding to the shorter brown-haired lawyer at his side. "We're your counsel for the trial." He waved away Danny's guards, ordering, "We need privacy to confer with our client."

As the guards complied, there was a sudden swirl of movement in the clearing. Another group of guards appeared, forcibly propelling a blindfolded man in dark blue pyjamas, his hands tied in front of him.

"Steve!" Danny cried in alarm.

"Danno? Is that you?" McGarrett asked, turning his head in the direction of the voice.

The guards escorting the head of Five-O removed his blindfold and shoved him forward to join his second-in-command and the two lawyers.

McGarrett looked around the clearing. "What the _hell_ is going on here?" he demanded.

"Steve, are you okay?" Danny asked anxiously. There was a livid mark on McGarrett's right cheekbone, and his pyjama shirt was torn, the top button gone.

"I'm fine, but I want to know why I was brought here and what's happening," McGarrett snapped. "Danno, do you have any idea?"

"Steve...the other day, in the forest..." Danny began.

"Yes?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows.

Danny took a deep breath. "I was the unicorn."

"How do you know about...wait, what do you mean?" McGarrett demanded. "_You_ were the...the..."

"Unicorn. Unicorns are real. We exist," Danny told him flatly. "We look like horses with horns, like you saw...but we can also take human form. That day, I knew I'd never reach you in time as a human, so I...transformed."

"You _transformed_...into a...a unicorn?" McGarrett said.

"I know, it sounds nuts. But it's true. You saw what you saw...and you saw me," Danny said, looking earnestly at his boss.

Steve met his gaze for along moment, then said, "Okay, I believe you, Danno. But...what's going on?"

Danny let out a breath. "The problem is...by letting you see me as a unicorn, I broke one of our most important laws. Except for those chosen few the Council has named, we must _never_ let a human see us in unicorn form."

"The Council? Are you telling me there's a unicorn _government_?" McGarrett demanded. "And these people, they're actually..._unicorns?_" He looked around the clearing with renewed speculation.

"Yeah. This Gathering is for my trial. Judge, jury, audience, all unicorns," Danny explained. "That's why they're dressed this way. Unicorns don't feel the same psychological need for clothing unless they spend a lot of time around humans. Also, it's inconvenient to be dressed if you want to transform."

"Are you two unicorns, too?" Steve demanded of Nathaniel and Thomas. "Everyone else here looks like they're in some sort of naturist commune, but you look like lawyers."

"We _are_ lawyers," Nathaniel told him. "We're Dan's counsel. We also work as lawyers among the humans, and we thought he might feel more comfortable seeing us in the costume of the trade."

"Very realistic," McGarrett said drily. "So, this is a unicorn court. Who's in charge?"

Nathaniel gestured towards one of the groups conferring across the clearing. "The tall blonde is Fiona, the Regional Governor for the Western United States. She will be the judge at Dan's trial."

"This trial-If he's found guilty, what is the penalty for his crime?" Steve demanded.

"They're charging him with premeditatedly revealing himself to a human," the lawyer said seriously. "The penalty is very severe. It can be permanent exile, or even death."

"_Death?_" McGarrett exclaimed. "And what is permanent exile?"

"The unicorn's horn is surgically removed. As a result, he transforms to his human state, and can never again regain his true form," Nathaniel said grimly. "Some consider it a penalty worse than death, but..."

Danny broke in. "Nathaniel, why is Steve here? And what's with the furniture and everyone in human form? I'd have thought for _me_ they'd do the opposite."

"We don't know. It's all extremely unusual. Possibly your lover is only here to serve as a witness, but for someone in a position of power in the human world to see so much of our society...I worry they cannot risk letting him go afterwards," Nathaniel said.

"_Lover?_" McGarrett demanded.

"_You think they'll kill him?_" Danny exclaimed at the same time.

"He is not your lover?" Nathaniel asked Danny, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "But you revealed yourself to save him!"

"Remember their rules," Thomas told his partner gently.

"Oh...that is right. By the rules of human society, because you are both males, you are not permitted to mate." Nathaniel turned to Steve and said, "Our people believe differently. We may enjoy love wherever we find it. Thomas here is not my partner only in the law," he added, putting his arm around the other man.

Danny felt his face growing red, and didn't dare look at his boss. _If they don't kill us tonight, how will I ever explain this to Steve?_ he thought desperately.

"As I was saying, I believe that given what Steve has seen, they will not let him go free," Nathaniel told Danny, oblivious to his embarrassment. "One in his position in human society could be very dangerous to us, a far greater threat than the criminal who gave the interview to the newspaper. Officially, unicorn law enforcement has no jurisdiction over humans, but unofficially we all know that sometimes they feel it is necessary to...take steps. As officers of the court we are under strict obligations to uphold our laws, but we feel that this should not extend to extra-legal actions of the Council Enforcers."

"What can we do?" Danny asked worriedly, sneaking a glance at Steve, who was looking somewhat stunned.

"Thomas and I will try to make a chance for you. When we do, the two of you must get away," Nathaniel said, exchanging a look with his partner, who nodded in agreement. "There's something going on here that I don't understand, and I don't like it. The Council already has enough blood on its hands, in these Islands and elsewhere."

"Nathaniel, Thomas, thank you. I know the penalties if they decide you conspired to free me," Danny said seriously. He turned to McGarrett. "Steve, if I get a chance, I'll transform, and we'll try to get out of here. Have you ever ridden bareback?"

"Never with my hands tied, but I think I can handle it," Steve said with a grim smile.

"Now, in case that plan doesn't work, we'd better discuss your defense," Nathaniel said briskly. "Steve, if you wouldn't mind waiting for us over there at the defense table?" he invited with a wave toward a small folding table that seemed inadequate to the title.

* * *

A short time later, McGarrett, sitting on a metal chair beside his second-in-command, looked around in wonderment at the proceedings that were taking shape. They seemed oddly informal, perhaps because the human trappings were all clearly temporary. What appeared to be the judges' bench was formed from a huge fallen tree whose upper surface had been flattened. Moss and fern grew about it, the natural elements a stark contrast to the rows of folding chairs set out for the audience and the pair of card tables, one at each end of the tree. Danny, Steve, and the two lawyers sat behind one, a small, dark-haired unicorn who was presumably the prosecutor behind the other.

_It's hard to believe. These are all unicorns? _Danno_ is a unicorn? And this is a courtroom?_ Steve thought. But what kept intruding over all was, _Can it possibly be true that Danny feels...like that...about me? He didn't deny it when the lawyer brought it up._

Various unicorns in human form were taking seats, filling the places behind the bench and the rows of chairs for the audience. As he watched them, Steve realized that there was a certain _something_ about them all, something attractive, regardless of their physical appearances. With a shock, he recognized it as something he'd seen in Dan Williams since they'd first met. _It draws people to him. How he looks and his personality certainly don't hurt, but he's always had this indefinable quality about him_. _I think after this if I meet a unicorn in human form, I'll know it. If there _is_ an 'after this,' of course..._

The proceedings looked to be nearly ready to begin when suddenly Thomas jumped to his feet, staring fixedly into the forest.

"What was that?" he cried. He ran into the trees, pursued by Nathaniel, both still in human form. Others followed them, some as humans, and some transforming first with a series of sharp reports as the air around them was displaced.

Steve had no time to wonder at the effect or the sight of the unicorns. As the clearing erupted into chaos, Danny transformed, bits of maroon pyjamas flying outward from his equine form. He knelt in obvious invitation, and Steve mounted him.

The chestnut unicorn wheeled and galloped back down the track they had entered from, in the opposite direction to the one Thomas had taken. McGarrett leaned low over his mount's neck, clinging tightly with his legs and twining his fingers in the curly mane.

They hadn't gone far when sounds of pursuit came from behind them, and Danny increased his pace to one that seemed foolhardy over the narrow and uneven trail, whipping around trees and springing over fallen logs.

_If we can just reach the road, get down to where there's traffic, surely they won't risk showing themselves,_ Steve thought, finding it easier than expected to stay with his mount's sudden moves despite the lack of saddle or bridle. _I suppose we're used to being attuned to each others' reactions as humans..._

As they rocketed around a curve, he looked back over his shoulder briefly, alarmed to see unicorns pursuing them, two of them carrying human-form riders with ropes. As the fleeing pair neared the beginning of the trail, one of the unicorns behind them gave a sharp whinnying call.

_There must be guards left by the road,_ McGarrett thought grimly as his mount gave a snort of alarm.

Four more unicorns came into view running toward them up the trail from the direction of the road.

Danny stopped abruptly, nearly pitching Steve off over his shoulder. He wheeled and plunged off the path, but the check had allowed the pursuing group to catch up, the riders readying their ropes. Crashing desperately through the forest growth until a vine caught one of his hind feet, he was jerked to a stop, falling, his passenger thrown through the air.

McGarrett tried ineffectually to catch himself with his bound hands. Pain exploded through his arm, then his forehead hit the ground, and everything went black.


	3. The Trial Begins

**Author's Note:** So...what with one thing and another that was a bit more of a hiatus than I had intended. Thank you to everyone for bearing with me. ^^;

I am very grateful to Buffy for beta-reading and advice!

* * *

Steve leaned painfully against the trunk of the tree, watching the standoff between Danny and his foes.

There was a sudden movement. Two of the other unicorns had charged in unison. Their bodies collided, and Steve saw a line of red blossom on his second-in-command's chestnut shoulder as it was raked by a horn. Danny reared up, and the three of them struggled fiercely, kicking, biting, and slashing with their horns.

A voice cut across their angry snorts and squeals. "Stop this at once!" ordered Fiona, arriving on the scene in human form astride a huge black unicorn stallion.

Danny's opponents fell back, pawing the ground in frustration.

Fiona looked down at Steve. "My orders were that the human was not to be harmed! You have further damaged him."

One of the attacking unicorns launched into a sequence of snorts and whinnies.

"If you had done your job guarding them, he would not have had the _opportunity_ to fall!" she snapped. "Now," she said, turning to Danny, who still stood between the others and McGarrett, his sides heaving from exertion. "I give you my personal guarantee that if you accompany us back to the court the human will not be further harmed in any way."

Danny turned and lowered his head to Steve, whinnying anxiously.

"I'm okay, Danno," his boss assured him. "But I think my arm is broken."

"Untie him," Fiona ordered one of the Enforcers in human form. "Carefully. Is there anyone here with medical training?" she asked, looking around at the increasingly large group of gathered unicorns.

An Enforcer with a knife approached Danny, who reluctantly let him past to McGarrett, still sitting propped against the tree trunk.

As the rope fell away and his left arm moved, Steve had to stifle a cry of pain.

"I'm a nurse," said a young female unicorn in a simple flowered dress, stepping forward. "My name is Lauren," she told Steve as she examined his arm with gentle hands. He winced as she probed his forearm.

"I can't tell if it's broken without an X-ray. But it won't hurt to splint it, just in case. Someone bring me two straight sticks, about this long," she gestured, "and I'll need something to tie it with."

One of the Enforcers brought her the sticks, and a young female unicorn stepped forward and took off the belt of her robe, offering it to the other woman and letting the garment fall open with a complete lack of self-consciousness.

Steve gritted his teeth as the unicorn nurse used the sticks and belt to efficiently splint his arm. Commandeering a robe and tearing off a wide strip, she rigged a sling.

"This should help until you can get proper medical care," she told him. "I'm sorry I don't have my bag with me."

"Thank you," Steve said. _This just gets more surreal every minute,_ he thought.

"Now, if he's ready, let's go," Fiona said briskly.

An enforcer helped the head of Five-O to his feet, where he stood, somewhat unsteadily. Danny knelt in front of him, but Steve said, "Wait! He's injured, too," pointing at Danny's shoulder, dripping red from the long cut across it.

Danny whinnied something.

"He says it's nothing," Fiona translated. "Let's go," she ordered again.

"I doesn't look like 'nothing'!" McGarrett protested.

Danny nudged Steve's uninjured arm to urge him to mount, whickering softly, and Steve gave in and carefully climbed on, wincing as he jostled his arm. He gave the chestnut neck a pat, then once again buried his good hand in the curly mane.

They returned to the clearing at a much more sedate pace, Danny limping slightly, preceded and followed by Enforcers in unicorn form. The narrow path wound between vine-covered trees, the moonlight filtering through the moving leaves to create deceptive patches of light and shadow. _It's a wonder Danny managed to get us as far as he did at such a speed,_ Steve thought.

Back under the lights of the clearing, Danny knelt carefully for Steve to climb off. The two stood together, Steve leaning on Danny's shoulder for support, as the other unicorns filtered back into the clearing.

Steve watched with interest as many of those in unicorn form changed to human, the clearing full of sharp reports. _It's hard to get used to seeing that. I wonder if this is all the unicorns on the island? No young children, but otherwise they seem to be pretty well assorted._

A group of teenage girls nearby were giggling and sending Danny and Steve sidelong glances as they re-tied each others' hair ribbons. Surveying the crowd as it naturally formed conversational groupings Steve registered middle aged couples, senior citizens, a group of boys with deep tans who looked like surfers. F_unny how much harder it is to tell everyone's station in life without the clothing, _he mused as he and his partner made their way slowly back to the card table at the end of the fallen tree where they had been sitting before the escape attempt.

They walked through a general swell of talk, unicorns in human form chatting as discarded robes were reclaimed and shaken off. _No one seems to be in a huge hurry to dress,_ Steve observed. _Though there are some who never changed, and some who haven't changed back. I wish I understood more about this society. Wait…I _know_ her,_ he thought with a shock of recognition, as a young woman walked past. _She's a teller at my bank. I wonder how many unicorns I see every day? Interesting that they all seem to resemble their human forms a bit, at least superficially. No wonder Danny's mane is curly…so strange to be thinking of him like that._

Once at the table, Steve sank down gratefully into a chair beside Thomas, Danny standing beside him.

"I'm sorry," Thomas said softly, as Nathaniel reappeared from the crowd, also taking a seat.

Danny answered with a series of snorts and whinnies, and Nathaniel, looking over at Steve said, "Mr. McGarrett is safe then, at least."

"Her word is good?" Steve asked.

"Yes. I don't necessarily trust her administration or agree with its policies, but I'd say her word is good," Nathaniel said.

Thomas nodded. "She gave it formally in front of witnesses. She wouldn't dare go back on it."

Fiona herself appeared from crowd, taking a seat behind the tree trunk bench, where she was joined by six other unicorns in human form, four female, two male, all dressed, but otherwise assorted in age and appearance. When all six had taken their places, she rapped on the bench with a smoothly polished green stone in an attempt to bring the excited crowd to order.

"Everyone! Take your seats and your human forms!" she commanded, rapping again. There was a burst of sharp sounds as the remaining members of the audience transformed, most taking their seats without clothing.

After relative quiet was finally achieved Fiona announced, "We are taking the unusual step of conducting this trial entirely in our human forms so that the defendant's human lover can understand the proceedings."

Nathaniel cleared his throat and got to his feet to address the judge. "Er…he and the defendant are not actually lovers. The human taboos..."

"Dan put himself in mortal jeopardy for one who can never be his mate?" she looked at Danny, shaking her head. "I am sorry. We failed you when we left you to grow up among humans"

Danny whinnied something that sounded indignant.

"I'm sure your aunt is a wonderful woman, but you should have been with your own kind," Fiona said. "Now, if you would please transform, we can get underway."

The chestnut unicorn made a noise of protest, looking over at Steve.

"Let him see what he is missing," the Regional Governor said with a small smile. "Now, change!" she commanded.

_That's right, he's not wearing clothing anymore,_ McGarrett suddenly realized. The unicorn reared, he heard a *pop* of inrushing air, and suddenly Danny stood before him naked, his face flushed. Steve quickly looked away as his second-in-command came to sit in the chair next to him, then turned back in concern.

"Danno, are you okay?" he asked. The cut on the young man's shoulder looked just as nasty on his human form, and his right arm was covered with blood.

"I'm fine, Steve," his partner assured him, not meeting Steve's eyes as he tried to cover himself with his hands in his lap.

_I've never actually seen him undressed before. He's certainly very..._ McGarrett cut off his train of thought, quickly averting his eyes again.

"This court is now in session," Fiona declared, rapping on the bench. "The charge is that Dan intentionally and premeditatedly revealed himself to two humans. How does the defendant plead?"

Nathaniel stepped forward and addressed the Regional Governor and the six unicorns arrayed beside her behind the bench. "He admits to the charge, but claims mitigating circumstances."

"Very well," Fiona said. "Prosecution, please make your statement."

The prosecutor, wearing a dark blue robe, stepped forward from behind his table. "The defendant intentionally revealed himself to two humans, one of whom has attempted to spread knowledge of our existence," he said, pacing the length of the bench. "This action was obviously part of a premeditated plan to disarm the human criminal. Saving the life of a _human_, who by _counsel's own admission_ is not only not the defendant's mate, but not even his lover, is no justification in the eyes of Unicorn law." He paused to let his point sink in, casting his eyes over the audience. "The defendant's actions, undoubtedly the result of a desire for promotion or for the glory of capturing the human criminal, were completely irresponsible and put us all at risk. For this extremely serious offense we thus request a sentence of permanent exile."

"Thank you. Defense?" Fiona said.

Nathaniel stepped forward once more. "The defendant freely admits to revealing himself to two humans. However, he denies the charge of premeditation. He arrived on the scene to find Steve McGarrett, the human he loves, in mortal peril and acted in the only way he could to save his beloved's life. The damage was minimal, as the humans believe that the human criminal's wounds were caused by some type of animal, and no one is giving credence to his wild story of a unicorn. Therefore, the defendant throws himself on the mercy of this court and requests the lightest possible sentence."

"Very well," Fiona told him. "Theodore, do you have any witnesses?" she asked the prosecutor.

"I have no witnesses, but I wish to enter this newspaper article into the record," he said, stepping forward to hand Fiona a folded paper.

"In the 'Local Interest' section, I see," she observed, reading, " 'Are unicorns real? Accused smuggling kingpin Patrick Loren claims the injuries he suffered while being apprehended by Hawaii Five-O were in fact caused by none other than a mythical beast. He says this _unicorn,_ which he described as looking just like a horse with a horn, charged him and stabbed him with that appendage. He further claims that the head of Five-O also witnessed the beast in question. However, when pressed for comment, Steve McGarrett was more inclined to laugh at this story than confirm it.' "

"There you see it," Theodore said, with a sweeping gesture. "Our existence, revealed to the humans, in black and white."

"The article is duly entered into the record. Defense, call your first witness," Fiona ordered.

"We call Dan Williams," Nathaniel said.

"Dan, step forward and address the court," Fiona instructed.

Throwing a last desperate look at Steve, Danny stood and crossed to join Nathaniel in front of the bench, looking as though he were prepared to face a firing squad.


End file.
